This application should be cross-referenced to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 067,852, filed Aug. 20, 1979 by George Branecky and assigned to the assignee of the present invention.
In mail processing systems of the type shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,034,669, issued July 12, 1977 to G. C. Freeman and assigned to the assignee of the present invention, large quantities of mixed mail are automatically continuously stream fed from an input feeding station; through a weighing station, where the individual mailpieces are weighed to determine the proper postage; through a postage metering station where the proper package is imprinted on the mailpieces; and to a metered mail stacking station from which the metered mail is retrieved by the operator. At one or more locations in the mail stream it is desirable to provide for selectively gating overweight or oversized mailpieces from the mail stream, prior in time to being weighed or metered, as the case may be, without slowing down or otherwise interrupting the continuous flow of other mailpieces through the system, and re-orienting and stacking such rejected mailpieces at a receiving station where they may be easily retrieved by the operator. Prior art apparatus for performing these functions have not only been somewhat complex, and thus expensive to manufacture and maintain, but also have a tendency to impose rough physical treatment on the mailpieces when they are reoriented for stacking purposes. Accordingly:
An object of the invention is to provide mailpiece handling apparatus including means for selectively gating mailpieces from a stream thereof and stacking them at a receiving station; and
Another object is to provide such apparatus with means for reorienting mailpieces diverted from the stream to facilitate operator retrieval.